The Roadhouse Hospitality Group—the operators behind well-known Colorado restaurants like the Kickapoo Tavern in Keystone, the Wazee Lounge & Supper Club, and the chain of Dusty Boot restaurants found all over the state—is bringing their blend of contemporary and casual dining to Boulder’s up-and-coming Boulder Junction neighborhood. Housed in the city’s iconic 126 year-old train depot, the Roadhouse Boulder Depot {2366 Junction Place, Boulder; 303.443.2167} is a tasteful shrine to the building’s past combined with urban elements that breathe new life into its old stone walls.

Black and white photographs showcasing the depot’s colorful history adorn the walls in the restaurant’s upstairs community area, bar, dining room, and the “private car” club room on the lower level that is a throwback to the heyday of train travel and can be reserved for parties of up to 80 people. Diners will find lunch and dinner menus filled with elevated pub fare like juicy burgers, an assortment of flatbread pizzas stacked with fresh ingredients, hearty entrées like a Short Rib dinner, Colorado Striped Bass, Barbecue Shrimp Tacos, and much more. Along with a large variety of healthy items like a Kale and Quinoa salad, the Roadhouse Boulder Depot also offers a menu section completely devoted to gluten-free items.

“We wanted to create an approachable menu filled with homemade dishes made from scratch in our kitchen,” says John Shipp, who along with brothers Dan and Mike founded the Roadhouse Hospitality Group. Alumni of the University of Colorado at Boulder, the Shipps’ pride and love for the city can be found all over the restaurant, but is especially evident in a large community booth done up in the colors of their alma mater, complete with a large TV perfect for watching the hometown sports teams. The Roadhouse Boulder Depot will also feature a selection of locally made craft beers and spirits that can be enjoyed on the restaurant’s large outdoor patio during the warm weather months.

The Roadhouse Boulder Depot is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and has plans to incorporate a brunch menu in the near future.

If you’re looking for a spot to cheer on the Broncos during the playoffs, look no further than the newly opened Roadhouse Boulder Depot. The space alone is worth a visit as the restaurant sits in the Boulder Jaycees Depot, a historic Victorian-era train station that a few years ago was moved from downtown Boulder to east of 30th and Pearl streets.

And even if you’re not a football fan or a history buff, you’ll be hard pressed not to find something to love. The comfort food menu serves the gamut: pan-seared salmon, steak and frites, flatbread pizzas, salads, even pretzel bites with queso and kale chips. But it’s the signature burgers that really shine. Bypass the Mac ‘N Cheese burger (I wasn’t a fan of the dry breaded, fried patty of jalapeño and queso-laced mac and cheese that tops this one) and go straight for the signature Roadhouse Burger. Tender pulled short rib, melted Gruyère, caramelized onions, lettuce, and tomato cap this sandwich, which is served au jus. Hands-down, this is one of the best burgers I’ve eaten in a long time. Pair it with the crispy Brussels sprouts and a Graham Cracker Porter from Denver Beer Company, and you’re primed to cheer for your favorite team on one of eight flat screens.

With burgers this good, it shouldn’t surprise you that the eatery is the latest spot from the well-known Denver-based Roadhouse Hospitality Group, which runs Spanky’s Urban Roadhouse, Reiver’s Bar and Grill, and Dusty Boot. Brothers Terry, Mike, Dan, and John Shipp have transformed the circa 1890s building into a cozy but hip full-service restaurant and bar, filled with railroad memorabilia. There’s even a depot history quiz built into the interior design that’s fun for the whole family, and drink specials when a passing train blows its whistle.

EAGLE — John Shipp, owner of The Dusty Boot and Luigi’s Pastahouse, is the winner of the 2015 Eagle Community Impact Award.

John Shipp is a founding partner in the Roadhouse Hospitality Group that owns and operates 18 restaurants around the state. He was nominated for the award by Eagle Chamber President Mick Daly and 2014 award winner Chris Cook.

Photo: Pam Boyd/pboyd@eaglevalleyenterprise.com John Shipp, center, is flanked by Eagle Chamber President Mick Daly (right) and Eagle Mayor Yuri Kostick (left) as he receives the 2015 Eagle Community Impact Award.

The Community Impact Award was launched by the Eagle Town Board last year to honor a “town of Eagle individual, business or organization that is making a tangible, measurable impact on the community.”

In his nomination, Daly noted Shipp “is known around Eagle County for his generous support of nonprofits, sitting on their boards and supporting fundraising efforts.”

“Although John is not an Eagle resident, his positive influence has been felt in our town for many years,” said Daly.

Cook’s nomination noted “John Shipp has had a major impact on the town of Eagle.” He cited how Shipp’s reigns have been the center of activities for many events and credited him for supporting “almost every special event that is his ask to help out with.”

Daly added that two of Shipp’s employees — P.J. Berg and Cameron Douglas — have been highly involved with Eagle’s marketing and events efforts.

“The Dusty Boot and Luigi’s have supported many nonprofits and events with food, beverages, space and other donations,” said Daly. He also cited Shipp’s involvement in the Eagle Chamber’s co-working project. The Simpati Co-Working space is located on the second story of Shipp’s Dusty Boot building.

Shipp was recognized with the Community Impact Award during this week’s Eagle Vision 20/20 event.

DiningOut Denver & Boulder recently wrote an article about 14 Restaurants That Have Stood the Test of Time, to include Wazee Lounge & Supper Club

Staying relevant in the tough restaurant business for decades and more

As Denver and Boulder’s food scenes continue to explode, we spend most of our time talking about what’s new, what’s hot, and what’s trendy. As hard as it is to open a successful restaurant, it’s even harder to keep it successful and relevant over the long haul—most restaurants don’t live to see their fifth birthday. We wanted to take some time out from our coverage of all that is new and hot in our crazy, exciting restaurant scene to pay homage to 14 restaurants that have been serving our community for 15 years or longer.

Five years after opening My Brother’s Bar, Detroit Natives Angelo and Jim Karagas purchased the old plumbing suppy house at 15th and Wazee and transformed it into their first restaurant. They have been serving award-winning pizza ever since. Located near Denver’s original city hall, it attracted its fair share of local and visiting politicians. Perhaps that is why President Obama visited the restaurant for a slice on his 2014 visit to Denver.

Shortly after buying a downtown staple, a Denver restaurant group is headed to Belmar with a new concept.

Roadhouse Hospitality Group plans to open Teller Street Kitchen, its 18th Colorado restaurant, this fall in the Lakewood development. Teller Street Kitchen is filling in the former Lane Bryant store at 445 S. Teller St., and Roadhouse COO Dan Shipp said he liked the location for Belmar’s recent growth spurt.

“Belmar has kind of become a city center for the area,” he said. “With all the new development and the new residents moving in, it looks like a great place for us.”

Teller Street Kitchen has a 10-year lease with a pair of five-year extension options for its 5,200-square-foot space. Shipp estimated it would cost about $2 million to get the restaurant up and running. He said he hopes to open the eatery near the end of this fall.

Belmar management approached Roadhouse Hospitality Group about bringing a restaurant to the Teller Street space more than a year ago. Shipp said the firm looked at other locations in the mall and considered building a new freestanding building near Alameda.

The deal fell into place, Shipp said, after Lane Bryant decided to leave the property. The clothing store opened a new shop a block over at 340 S. Teller St. in March.

Teller Street Kitchen’s menu will include a range of seafood, meat and pasta dishes. Entrees will run from about $12 to $28. Belmar will have 19 total restaurants and coffee shops by the time Teller Street Kitchen opens, but Shipp is aiming for a slightly upscale niche he said is currently missing.

“They have the pizza place, a burrito bar, P.F. Chang’s and all of the burger places,” he said. “But they wanted a kitchen-type restaurant with a little nicer feel.”

Construction on Teller Street Kitchen will begin in July, Shipp said. Boss Architecture is designing the space, and Jordy Construction is the general contractor.

Teller Street Kitchen is the first concept of its kind for Roadhouse. The Denver company’s brands include The Dusty Boot Steakhouse & Saloon, Hodsons Bar & Grill, Spanky’s Urban Roadhouse and a handful of other restaurants. Roadhouse Hospitality also bought downtown’s Wazee Supper Club earlier this year.

Roadhouse is pulling into Belmar amid a building boom for the mixed-use Lakewood development. Christina Brickley, Belmar’s marketing director, said the development expects 400 residents will move into new townhomes, apartments and senior housing units by December. A new Hyatt House hotel is also under construction and is scheduled to open early next year.

“We are thrilled to have Teller Street Kitchen open in Belmar,” Brickley said in an email. “The neighbors, in particular, are looking forward to a new lunch and dinner sport where they can enjoy a culinary experience close to home.”

Many of the restaurants in Keystone will open their doors a bit early for the summer season on Friday, June 5, for the inaugural Keystone Restaurant Week. More than a dozen locations will offer specials for $20.15 throughout the promotion, which ends Sunday, June 14.

“Restaurant Week gives locals an earlier start to the full dining offerings at Keystone Resort as summer activities heat up,” said Russell Carlton, senior communications coordinator for Keystone Resort. “With the variety of restaurants participating, guests can enjoy taking advantage of some great offerings at their favorite locations throughout Keystone while enjoying the warming weather.”

Dialing in deals

The event is a collaborative effort between the resort and Roadhouse Hospitality Group, operator of Zuma Roadhouse, Kickapoo Tavern and Luigi’s Pasta House in River Run Village, as well as other establishments throughout Keystone. P.J. Berg, director of staff development and business integrations for Roadhouse, said the specials are a bit different at each restaurant, which gives customers a lot of choices.

“At Kickapoo, they’re going to have punch cards for sale of beers, six beers for $20.15,” she said. “And five-wine punch cards — five glasses of house wine for $20.15 — that they can use throughout the year.”

Kickapoo also will have a lunch special, with two sandwiches or salads and two Coors Lights or two sodas for $20.15, and Chef Jeremy’s Dinner for two, a rotating menu that changes daily and includes two glasses of wine, beer or cocktails. Just down the way, Inxpot will be serving breakfast for two, with two breakfast sandwiches or burritos and two coffees, lattes or Irish coffees for $20.15, as well as a lunch special for two, with two sandwiches and two beers or glasses of wine.

Other $20.15 specials include a 12-inch, two-topping pizza and two draft beers or sodas at Pizza on the Run; chicken nachos and two draft beers at Black Bear Grill; 2-for-1 Bennies & Bacon Bloodies at the Haywood Café; and two sandwiches and a side or Tap House Nachos and two beers at 9280’ Tap House.

Berg said she encourages Summit County residents to come out and support their local eating establishments, adding that it’s a fun way to get the community together.

“We are a resort community, but there’s a lot of people who live local, and the locals get out and support the locals, and the word gets spread out across town where the deals are,” she said. “You get a really good deal for really good food. And there’s fun to be had because the mountain is opening for the summer.”

Restaurant Week beneficiary

For the duration of Keystone Restaurant Week, the resort will be collaborating with Roadhouse properties and other restaurants and retailers in River Run Village on a raffle benefitting the Keystone Science School. Each restaurant and participating merchant will be selling raffle tickets, with the winner receiving a fully loaded $500 grill package courtesy of Jack Daniel’s.

“Since 1976, Keystone Science School has taught leadership principles and environmental education to youth and adults through engaging, hands-on programming in the Rocky Mountains,” said Ellen Reid, executive director of the Keystone Science School.

“The money raised by the Jack Daniel’s Grill Package raffle will help KSS share life-changing learning experiences with more students and teachers from around the country, as well as to serve our Summit County community through programs like the 4th Grade Astronomy program, CATCH Afterschool and so much more.”

Tickets are $1 each, and the prize includes a Jack Daniel’s-branded grill, apron, grill utensil set and barbecue sauce. The prize drawing will be held around 6 p.m. during the barbecue party at Kickapoo Tavern on Saturday, June 14, which starts at 3 p.m. The winner doesn’t need to be present to win but is responsible for collecting the prize.

“We are very excited to check out some deals at our favorite River Run restaurants and to thank the restaurants’ management and staff, as well as Keystone Resort, for everything they do for KSS and the Keystone community,” Reid said. “The barbecue at Kickapoo on Saturday, June 13, promises to be a great party. KSS will be there, so come by and say hi. There might even be a hot-pink gorilla sighting, who knows?”

For more information on Keystone Restaurant Week, including a full list of participating restaurants and their $20.15 specials, visit www.keystonerestaurantweek.com.

Denver, Colorado – May 19, 2015 – Roadhouse Hospitality Group has been named 2015 Business of the Year by the Vail Valley Partnership. The family-owned Roadhouse group, whose restaurants include such familiar names throughout the Denver metro area as the Wazee Supper Club, Reivers, Spanky’s Urban Roadhouse and Hodsons, as well as popular mountain town establishments, was honored at the Vail Valley Partnership’s 12th annual Success Awards event, held recently at the Eagle-Vail Pavilion. Four of Roadhouse’s restaurants are located in the Vail Valley.

The Vail Valley Partnership’s annual Business of the Year award is given to a business with 11 or more employees that demonstrates ethical business practices, professionalism, a strong community involvement and a positive social and/or economic impact on the region.

“The Vail Valley Partnership is such a respected organization that it’s particularly meaningful receiving their Success Award as Business of the Year,” says Roadhouse Hospitality Group President John Shipp. “It’s truly an honor to be recognized alongside so many outstanding Vail businesses. Giving back to the communities where we have restaurants is an important part of our mission, and ultimately it’s the hard work of our employees – both their professionalism in our restaurants and their active roles in the greater Vail Valley community – that I have to credit with this achievement.”

Roadhouse Hospitality Group has been one of the state’s best-established restaurant family businesses for nearly three decades. Owned by the Shipp brothers – Dan, John and Mike – the group’s Vail Valley establishments include the Dusty Boot restaurants in Beaver Creek and Eagle, as well as Luigi’s pasta restaurant in Eagle and The Metropolitan restaurant in Beaver Creek.

Started in 1991 when the Shipp brothers purchased their first restaurant, Spanky’s Roadhouse near the University of Denver, Colorado-based Roadhouse Hospitality Group currently owns and operates 16 restaurants in the Denver metro area and in Colorado mountain towns and resorts, with two new restaurants slated to open in late summer and fall, including one in Boulder’s historic train depot. For more information and a full listing of restaurants and locations, click here.

This would be the 16th restaurant for the Denver-based Roadhouse Hospitality LLC and the company’s first in Boulder, said John Shipp, a partner in the family-run operation. However, Shipp said, there will nothing “cookie-cutter” about their approach to operating in the nearly 125-year-old building.

“We’ll only take on projects now that we feel really strongly about,” Shipp said of his family’s 23-year-old business.

The history, the legacy and the unique nature of the Boulder Jaycees Depot make the effort a “special project” that needs to be approached with the greatest of integrity, Shipp said.

“It’s not the easiest property. . . but we’re doing something we’re going to be proud of,” said Shipp, noting that he and his siblings were graduates of the University of Colorado

The type of restaurant eyed for the site will be of the “roadhouse” variety, Shipp said, describing the concept as family-friendly and community-oriented with fare that includes burgers made from Colorado beef, flatbread pizzas, steak, fish and mac and cheese for the kids.

The layout of the building calls for seating on both the ground and basement levels in addition to a patio. That allows for the restaurant to have some distinct areas that can cater to families who are coming from games at the neighboring Boulder Indoor Soccer, to hotel guests and local employees meeting for a craft beer, Shipp said.

The fare is expected to range in price from $8 to $12 for lunch and $13 to $20 for dinner with certain steak and fish dishes priced slightly above the high end of that range, he said.

If all goes as intended with the build-out process, the yet-to-be-named restaurant could open in May.

Michael-Ryan McCarty and Angela Topel, of Boulder-based Gibbons-White Inc., were participating brokers in the lease transaction.

The depot building is one component of Depot Square at Boulder Junction, a project just east of 30th and Pearl streets that includes a Hyatt hotel, 71 permanently affordable apartments and a Regional Transportation District garage and bus station.

Pedersen Development, the Boulder-based company behind Depot Square, reached an agreement with the city under which Pedersen will rehabilitate the depot in exchange for the ability to rent it to a tenant through a low-cost lease with the city. Boulder remains the owner of the building.

That rehabilitation and restoration work is already underway and being completed in compliance with Boulder’s historic preservation guidelines.

“It’s going to be a cool property when its done,” said Scott Pedersen, owner of Pedersen Development.

Pedersen previously had been in discussions with operators including Longmont-based Oskar Blues but ultimately decided to move forward with Roadhouse Hospitality. The restaurateurs’ success in their Denver-area restaurants combined with the family-friendly concept for the site made it a nice complement to the rest of the project, Pedersen said.

Depot Square at Boulder Junction should be completed within the coming months. The parking garage has been constructed and the Hyatt hotel is expected to be the first user to open in the first part of February, Pedersen said.

The housing will follow in April and RTD is expected to start running buses through the project starting in May, he said.

Roadhouse Hospitality Group is the parent company to The Dusty Boot Steakhouse and Saloon. In an effort to give more value to our valued guests we have expanded The Dusty Boot Club Card. The card is now valid at all 16 of our locations. Locations include:

You may not know Roadhouse Hospitality Group yet. But if brother-owners Dan and John Shipp have their way, you will recognize the name soon.

The 24-year-old restaurant group made its most high-profile acquisition in January when it purchased the Wazee Supper Club in downtown Denver. That brought its portfolio to 17 restaurants — nine in the Denver area and eight in Colorado’s ski towns.

Included in those numbers are a hodgepodge of brands, including four Dusty Boot steakhouses, two Hodsons upscale eateries, several Roadhouses and a slew of one-off offerings.